Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID WRI-331

Prediction Modeling for AMD Treatment Costs

Institute: West Virginia
Year Established: 2024 Start Date: 2024-09-01 End Date: 2025-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $84,052 Total Non-Federal Funds: $88,993

Principal Investigators: Leslie Hopkinson

Project Summary: Treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD) in Appalachia, and particularly West Virginia, has historically been implemented using both passive treatment like limestone beds and wetlands, as well as active treatment like lime dosers. Treatment has focused on individual point sources of AMD in accordance with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. Within the past decade, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) has also constructed larger-scale active AMD treatment facilities that use both point-source and centralized approaches. Limited work, however, has been conducted to evaluate the cost of treatment alternatives and their associated benefits. This proposed work will develop a prediction model that forecasts capital and operational costs of AMD treatment. The model will be useful to inform decisions on treatment alternatives.